the-great-gatsby-pdf

excursionswithprivileged glimpsesintothehumanheart. Only
Gatsby,the manwho giveshis nameto this book,was exempt
from my reaction — Gatsby, who represented everything for
whichIhaveanunaffectedscorn.Ifpersonalityisan unbroken
series of successful gestures, then there was something gor-
geous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises
oflife,asifhe were relatedtooneofthoseintricate machines
that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This re-
sponsiveness hadnothing todo with thatflabbyimpressionab-
ility which is dignified under the name of the “creative tem-
perament.”— itwas an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic
readiness such as Ihavenever foundin any other personand
which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No — Gatsby
turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby,
whatfouldustfloatedinthewakeofhisdreamsthattemporar-
ily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-
winded elations of men.
My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this
Middle Western city for threegenerations. TheCarraways are
somethingofaclan,andwehaveatraditionthatwe’redescen-
dedfromtheDukes ofBuccleuch,buttheactualfounderofmy
linewas my grandfather’sbrother,who cameherein fifty-one,
sent a substitute to the Civil War, and started the wholesale
hardware business that my father carries on to-day.
I never saw this great-uncle, but I’m supposed to look like
him—withspecialreferencetotheratherhard-boiledpainting
that hangs in father’s office I graduated from New Haven in
1915, just a quarter of a century after my father, and a little
later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known
astheGreatWar.Ienjoyedthecounter-raidsothoroughlythat
Icame back restless. Instead ofbeing the warm centre ofthe
world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of
theuniverse—soIdecidedtogoEastandlearnthebondbusi-
ness. Everybody I knew was in the bond business, so I sup-
posedit could supportonemore single man. Allmy aunts and
unclestalkeditoverasiftheywerechoosinga prepschoolfor
me, and finallysaid, “Why — ye — es,”with very grave,hesit-
ant faces. Father agreed to finance me for a year, and after
various delays I came East, permanently, I thought, in the
spring of twenty-two.